Vietnam travel guide

Astonishingly exotic and fully compelling, unforgettable experiences are everywhere in Vietnam, a country of breathtaking natural beauty with an incredible heritage collection that quickly becomes addictive. Even those who have been living in Vietnam for years will tell you that every day is an adventure in this land of the dragon people. Feel your senses come alive when you cruise through the fairy-tale landscape of thousands limestone islands in Halong Bay or feel the chaotic in big cities of Ho Chi Minh or the grand old lady of Hanoi. See authentic sights and sounds of the countryside or be greeted by the energetic, resilient and friendly locals and a sense of kindness akin to their customs. Simple, chaotic, inspiring, you will find all at the same time. So, get ready to soak up in the feast of its scenic scenery, rich culture and glorious history while starting your own journey.

Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "Southern Viet". It was first officially adopted in 1802 by Emperor Gia Long, and was adopted again in 1945 with the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. The country is bordered by China, Laos, Cambodia, and the South China Sea to the east. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976.

Viewed through the lens of its history, Vietnam might appear in many foreigners’ eyes as a country of war, sorrow and loss. But zoom in for a closer look, you will find one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. Inspire of being developed, it is still an exotic land of breathtaking natural landscapes, vivid colors and lifestyle. It is the home to eight recognized UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including cultural, natural and mixed ones. The myriad parks, rugged mountains along with 3,000 kilometer coastline and finest beaches create an incredible biodiversity for those seeking new adventures in the Far East. Its cuisine with incredibly subtle in flavors and outstanding in diversity never ceases to amaze avid foodies. Juxtaposed with its nature beauty and modern cities lie a perfectly cultural blend of many other cultures such as Chinese, Indian and Hindu. Hidden inside, you will find a unique and quintessential Vietnam with royal relics, enduring French colonial legacies and especially, the 54 distinct ethnic groups creating a bold culture with their own languages, ways of life and traditional customs.

Vietnam Travel Blog

Vietnam recently extended its visa waiver program, which just ended on June 30, 2016, for British, French, German, Italian, and Spanish citizens travelling to the country for a period of up to 15 days for single entry to 30 June 2017. A visa exemption policy in Vietnam which started from July 2015 has proved to be successful after one year in effect. It did help to increase the number of tourists from 5 European…

We went to Vietnam as well as Thailand and our trip was planned out perfectly. Daisy and the tour guides did a great job making sure everything worked out as planned. Daisy even called us a couple times along the way to make sure everything was going smoothly and we were happy with the arrangements. The tour hit all of the spots that we were interested in and we even made a couple special requests to change some things along the way and it wasn't a problem. The tour guides spoke great English and were very knowledgeable about their specific area. Overall we had a wonderful time and will be recommending this company to friends and family.

We spent a total of 19 days visiting Vietnam and Cambodia. I planned the trip with fairly short notice and rather individualized. Daisy was super accommodating with our requests even after our arrival. She showed great concern for our well-being when the weather turned cold as we were heading toward Sapa in the mountains. We purchased the ubiquitous "North Face" jackets for the experience of snow in Vietnam. Our trip had numerous guides and every form of travel. Never once were we stranded by our hosts. Our favorite parts of the trip were Sapa, Ha Long Bay (boat), Hoi An (beach), and Angkor Wat. In these and the other locations we always felt well taken care of in excellent hotels and on the arranged tours. The vacation using 365 Travel met our expectations and then some. I would highly recommend using 365 for your Southeast Asia travels.

When your knowledge of the language is limited to "hello" and "thank you" it's VERY desirable to have a native-speaking guide at your side, and 365 provides friendly, knowledgable, professionals waiting for you at every stop. And we had many stops in our four-week travels, excellently planned, collaboratively with us, by Daisy. They even shuttled us to and from a resort we booked independently. It's also compelling for us that every guides was local to the area we were visiting, and took pride and interest in their home area - besides having lots of useful information and guidance.
Besides the Vietnam destinations mentioned in other reviews, we stopped in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (for the Angkor complex), Luang Prabang, Chiang Mai, and Bangkok. Fascinating. Too many highlights to mention - though being at a temple hearing monks chanting into the New Year, and then seeing revelers launch small hot-air balloons, was really special.

Having an unscheduled day after the endless flights to Hanoi was a smart decision, as was a beach day before flying home! Good to know is that visits to workshops and demonstrations carry an expectation that you'll make a purchase - so be prepared to buy - or decline.
We should also add that 365 accommodated our - sometimes last-minute - change requests, both before and during our travels. And that flexibility made for a more enjoyable / interesting / balanced trip. Finally we should add that we'd got a quote from another custom provider before we discovered 365 online, and 365 were able to offer a very similar itinerary at a very competitive rate.
Should we return to the region, we wouldn't think of arranging it with another provider. Thanks Daisy, and all the guides.

My family of four just completed a 14 day excursion with 365 Travel that included 4 days in Thailand, 3 days in Cambodia and 7 days in Vietnam. I worked with an amazing trip planner Hanna Doan who was extremely accomodating to all of our requests and allowed us great flexibility to make changes sometimes necessitated by air travel changes. She was a great resource when we chose to make some of the hotel arrangements on our own. I had the chance to meet Hanna in Hanoi and she was a lovely person who even gave us beautiful souvenier gifts from her country.

I will start by saying that our family has traveled throughout the world with a number of great tour operators and the level of customer service focus of this company is about as good as it gets. At each of our stops, we were met by wonderful guides who were kind, passionate, informed and friendly and drivers who were not onlyexcellent drivers in navigating through an amazing web of traffic at many large cities but were always courteous and giving us water and facial wipes along the way. The guides responded to all of our questions, gave us suggestions and even treated us to local food and drink for tastings. They were also very patient with us waiting sometimes hours at the airport due to flight delays or visa issuance delays in Ho Chi Minh city. They made sure at hotels and airports that everything was in order before leaving us even though we had made some of these arrangements on our own.

365 Travel was extremely helpful in designing itineraries that met our needs in terms of the number and types of places we wanted to visit. Never did they say no to something or indicate that our requests were not reasonable. The lunches and dinners that were included were all very good with restaurants that provided good food and service by our standards. I can't say enough great things about their attention to detail and making sure their services were always to our satisfaction.

Before the trip, I had considered 3 other recommended tour operators, which were larger and had more reviews. I went with 365 Travel mostly because of the attention Hanna provided and their great flexibility and knowledge. I found their pricing to be very fair. I am truly glad that I went with 365 Travel and recommend them without any reservation. A friend of mine who also used them on a Vietnam trip during the same period we were in were also very pleased with their services.

The happy memories we created through this trip we owe in great part to the great attention and services we received from 365 Travel and Hanna.

Hi Daisy.
We had a wonderful trip to Hanoi and to Halong Bay. Your planning and service was very gracious and thorough. Mr. Hung was very interesting, intelligent and patient with us. His care and servicces were very accommodating. He knows the area and the history of the area which we appreciated very much. His help with our luggage and rescheduling our flight back to HCMC was very helpful.

Thank you for such a memorable trip. When we return we will contact you and 365 again to plan our travels to other areas we would like to visit when we come again to Vietnam.

We were very impressed with the quality of the guides/drivers/vehicles as well as the accommodations and logistics. Everything was as good or better than advertised. Kensington did an excellent job of taking care of all the little things as well. From providing a cell phone for use in country, to checking in with us periodically to make sure all was well. We'd definitely use and recommend Kensington for any future travel

Our trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam was rich in culture and learning. 365 Travel made it so easy for us to be engaged in our trip instead of on our trip. Our responsibility was to enjoy and participate as the details of travel, accommodations and activities were all in place. This was no small activity as we boarded ten plane flights and went through immigration and customs five times all without incident. Each of our guides was unique in that they were from the culture therefore able to help immerse us in the culture. Having a personal guide allowed us to adjust the schedule based on our interests and various needs. The next time we travel somewhere this adventuresome, 365 Travel will be at our side.

We had a wonderful time, but would like to provide some more detailed feedback that may be useful. (Intent is to be helpful, not to complain, we have no complaints really.) 1) Guides: The guides turned out to be more essential than we thought. For one thing, we were able to see more and understand more without having to manage logistics. They were always very attentive, made sure we had water, didn't get lost, didn't get hassled, etc. Phong (HoiAn), however, set the bar, and maybe to the detriment of the other guides because she was absolutely amazing. She had an unerring ability to anticipate what we would like to see or do, when we might be flagging, when we needed quiet or fun, or food. She always seemed to have interesting background information we couldn't get from guide books. I mentioned that I would have liked to get a silk lantern and she arranged to have one for me when we got back to Hanoi (we missed the email she sent, however, so she offered to send it to Canada. Unbelievable.) She was delightful to be around and just the right amount of personal and professional. The others were for the most part, good, but language was really important and there was a range of capacity. The guide in Saigon was limited this way, and it was occasionally led to disappointment. Saigon was one place, though, where someone who was fluent in English would have made a significant difference.

Guides in Hanoi Siem Reep and Saigon were fantastic. May our guide in Saigon was so nice and very gracious. Our guide on the ship Adam was outstanding and would be a great asset to 365 Travel. The AMA sip was wonderful, food great, tours nice and service impeccable. We would use your agency again for sure. Thank you to Danny for Doing this for us. I would upgrade everyone to the Metropole in Hanoi. It was an experience in itself. A fine old world hotel.

Thank you for your email - I was going to be writing to you today in any event to thank you and all at 365 for making our trip so memorable and indeed perfect! I will try to give you as much feedback here as possible and will try to be as logical as possible but forgive me if I miss anything out.

Organisation: This was perfect throughout the trip in every respect with timekeeping perfect and the guides and drivers appearing as if by magic at exactly the right time.

Guides: All 3 guides were very good being both friendly and very knowledgeable and really brought our trip alive, although I have to make a special mention of Thang who I think was exceptional.

Hotels: All hotels were good but we felt that the Angkor Regency was the best hotel and also loved the Victoria as it was not only very good but also had special charm. The Green Palace was probably the least favourite.

Vietnam Trips: We did so much in such a short space of time I will not try to mention all as we felt the itinerary was very very good for the whole trip. But worthy of mention was the Birthday Boat trip was very good despite the last minute change and it was very much appreciated by all of us - thank you once again! The Tunnels were also very good and we all loved all the trips on the Mekong.

Cambodia Trips: The Killing Fields and S21 were very moving and should be seen by all and all the Temples at Angkor Wat were fantastic.

I took over 1500 photos and will put some of these on the Westminster website.

Please pass on my sincere thanks to Cindy and all those involved in making this a truly exceptional experience and I now have no hesitation at all in trying to encourage our clients from Westminster Tours to use 365. I will meet with Cindy when she is in London in November (please ask her to email me with exactly what dates she will be here) to see how best to develop things.

I could not be happier with your service and the planning of this wonderful trip. Everything was first class. Although I was traveling alone, I felt safe and secure at all times. In particular my travel consultant Danny P. should be highly praised for all his knowledge and work to put this together. Thank you Danny

We enjoyed the entire trip. The guide in Hanoi was satisfactory. The guide in Hue and the rest of Vietnam Suooang was terrific. She went out of her way. We loved her. The guide Chia in Bangkok was also superior. He also went out of his way to add to our trip. The guide in Siem Repp was not terrific. I wore a sleeveless dress in the morning. We went back to the hotel after lunch before Angkor Wat. Of course they didn't want to let me go up to the top. He should have told me to change. He knew they wouldn't let me up.

Our guides were very customer oriented, except Johnny in Saigon, who really was so self interested and not focused on giving us the best tour. The last hotel was very poor compared to others and left us with a bad taste. Especially with Anantara only a few doors away. In addition, we asked for boutique hotels like Anantara and were put in a large corporate hotel in Saigon. The fact that the tour arranger did not pick up that we had no flights from Siem Reap to Hanoi was very disturbing and created much upset on the trip. We only did very touristy things. We were hoping, as with other tours, you would offer opportunities off the beaten track that were more original and different, this was disappointing.